Shallow Center

On baseball, pop culture, and other important matters.

Monday, December 08, 2003

Groceries Aren't Free

In eulogizing the recently deceased British actor David Hemmings, Boats Against the Current wrote on Saturday, "I did not know that, in the 1980s, he spent some time in Hollywood directing vintage '80s TV shows like Magnum, PI, The A-Team, and Airwolf. Whatever pays the bills, I suppose. But who am I to even say something like that?"

True enough. A guilty pleasure of weekday afternoon TV is hunkering down in front of reruns and watching the "Guest Starring" credits to see which of today's stars was earning rent money back then. (George Clooney on The Facts of Life, anyone?) For my money one of the greatest career leaps was made by another A-Team alumnus, Carl Franklin, who played one of the hapless military goons chasing down Hannibal, B.A., Face, and Murdoch, then went on to film the shattering One False Move and the polished Devil in a Blue Dress.

Who knows? Perhaps one day it will reported that a Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction got his start with a foolish little baseball and pop culture blog. . . .

The Phillies' recent trade for Eric Milton led Shallow Center to proclaim publicly that "Kevin Millwood's tenure in Philadelphia will be a one-year hiccup in his career." Uh, not so fast. The team reportedly offered Millwood arbitration shortly before last night's midnight deadline, and the big righthander might just be headed back to Philadelphia.

Evil-agent poster boy Scott Boras -- think Jay Mohr's character in Jerry Maguire -- has been shopping Millwood for $75 million over five years, and interest apparently is scant. The pitcher has until December 19 to decide whether to accept arbitration. If so, he's back for another year -- at $11 million to $13 million, most observers believe -- and if not, the Phils at least receive compensatory draft picks from whatever team signs him.

This is, in other words, a gutsy, aggressive move -- something real teams do. If Millwood returns, then the Phillies will enter 2004 with one of the deepest rotations in baseball -- surely Brett Myers would be the game's best No. 5 starter. And if Millwood signs elsewhere, the Phils don't walk away empty-handed, and they still should have enough to contend until the trading deadline approaches, at which time Ed Wade can assess the situation and deal accordingly.

Chances are Millwood will be looking for a multiyear deal and move on, leaving the Phils with the picks. I think that's what management is hoping. Personally, I'd rather have him sign here. Because as the old saying goes, "It's not my money."

Todd Zolecki had the story in today's Inquirer, though not in the edition delivered to my house. Likewise, the Daily News's Marcus Hayes apparently didn't have his story in time for an earlier edition. Beating them both was MLB.com's Ken Mandel, the Phillies.com beat reporter, whose story ran at 12:54 this morning.

Indeed, Major League Baseball has done plenty to shoot itself in the foot, but it deserves to be commended for the independence it grants to and the initiative it fosters among the reporters who file stories on official team Web sites. On Saturday, for example, Mandel posted a story on the Phillies' site noting that, unlike last off-season, players eligible for salary arbitration -- Vicente Padilla, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Valerio De Los Santos, and Amaury Telemaco -- will be offered one-year deals.

It was hardly a stop-the-presses kind of piece, but it was well reported and newsworthy. Flush with Army-Navy coverage and salivating with anticipation over yesterday's Eagles-Cowboys matchup, the city dailies had no Phillies stories Saturday, so Mandel's story even counted as a scoop. And with such sentences as "Burrell responded with the worst season of his professional life," it clearly was not a team whitewash.

Indeed, each article on Phllies.com includes an italicized line reading, "This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs." Wow -- uncensored, newsworthy stories, published as they're written. Wasn't that supposed to be a promise of the Web in the first place?

UPDATE: Wade says the Phillies' arbitration offer to Millwood is a legitimate attempt to retain Millwood's services for another year, and not to land compensatory draft picks. From the AP story:

If he accepts arbitration, Wade said the Phillies would be "significantly over budget." However, Wade said the team is prepared to take on the additional salary.

"We have the ability to fill our needs," Wade said. "Kevin accepting arbitration is a separate bonus to the organization. It creates an opportunity for us to evaluate a number of pitchers going forward and allows us to have some flexibility next offseason."

Saturday, December 06, 2003

These Boats are Made for Reading

The great blessing and the great curse of the Web is the ease with which anyone can spray opinions and observations like so much virtual graffiti. A lot of it is useless junk; some if it is worth a look from time to time; and a great minority should be bookmarked and read regularly.

Decide for yourself, but in that last category I place the new blog Boats Against the Current, by Shallow Center's Washington Correspondent, also known as the older of my two younger brothers. An exquisitely written look at "books, movies, TV, comics, a little politics, maybe even some baseball," BAtC in its short tenure has already examined The New York Times Book Review, The Simple Life, the writer Ross Macdonald, the critic David Denby, and a host of other eclectic topics.

Besides being a writer of uncommon clarity and precisely worded prose, BAtC is also much more well-read than I, so you may even learn something in the process of reading him. Surf on over and check it out.

Friday, December 05, 2003

When Bad Movies Happen to Good Music

Last night, while folding laundry and channel-surfing, I came across the Josh Hartnett vehicle 40 Days and 40 Nights. Harnett, who floats in and out of It-Boy status, plays a guy who -- get this -- gives up sex for Lent. No, it's not your average UPN sitcom -- it's a Major Motion Picture! Anyway, I wasn't the only one who stayed away from the box office. Both reviewers and the general public were underwhelmed, and the film faded to its appropriate resting place -- late weeknight showings on cable.

What kept me on that channel for more than the second or two I give most stuff before firing on to the next channel was a familiar melody. Yep, there it was -- "Chemistry," from the rock-solid Minneapolis trio Semisonic's sadly underheard All About Chemistry. What should have been blasting out of every car radio in the land for a full summer was instead relegated to 10 seconds in a crappy movie that not many people saw.

Okay, I've been around the block enough to know that what the masses like ain't always what's good, and vice versa. But "Chemistry" is such a delightful, pure slice of American pop music -- and from a wonderful, sweet album (check out "One True Love," an amazing tune with Carole King, if you don't believe me) -- that I could do little but shake my head mournfully (and then continue folding my daughter's kitty-cat pajamas). If the La's hadn't had at least a modest hit with "There She Goes," arguably the most perfect piece of pop recorded in the last 20 years, I'd feel the same way about that great song, which has turned up in enough trailers that people at least kind-of recognize it.

And on and on it goes. Look, I'm no aging hipster doofus who insists that anything made today isn't worth listening to, or watching, or buying, or whatever. (Well, maybe a little, but just a little.) There's a ton of great stuff out there, but you have to look for it, and give it a chance when you find it. And the more plastic and hurried our culture becomes, the more difficult that is.

In Schilling you have a perennial Cy Young Award candidate, a throwback power pitcher who will give the Red Sox innings, strikeouts, and a ferocious desire to take the ball in big games. Schilling's baseball ability is matched only by his uncontrollable tendency to be a huge pain in the ass. He's colorful and outspoken and always gets his way while somehow claiming it wasn't him. Schilling forced a trade from the Phillies, then said he never demanded it, and he forced the most recent deal between the Sox and the D'backs less than two weeks after telling a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter that he would accept a trade to the Phillies or Yankees only. When he starts pledging eternal love to Boston, have your fun but don't believe him -- he'll have changed his mind by the time daylight rolls around.

As for Francona, if you thought Grady Little gave players a free pass, you ain't seen nothing yet. He couldn't even handle Bobby Abreu when he was in Philadelphia; Manny Ramirez will leave cleat marks on his back. It'll be interesting to see what Francona do now that he has players; his tenure with the Phillies, whose lineup was hardly fear-inducing, produced exactly zero winning seasons.

With Scott Boras, Millwood's agent, apparently demanding much more scratch from the Phils than GM Ed Wade was willing to part with, the team looked in another direction. "Kevin Millwood turned into a long shot for the Phillies, and they couldn't afford to wait," wrote the Inquirer's Todd Zolecki. "So yesterday they moved on."

Milton brings a recent history of injuries to the Phils, but when healthy, he was a solid double-digit winner for Minnesota. He gives up a lot of dingers, and his ERA -- 4.76 in six years with the Twins -- isn't grand, but he can bring a decent fastball, a good curve, a hard slider, and a changeup. The Daily News's Marcus Hayes reported that Phillies pitching coach Joe Kerrigan liked the trade. (Then again, what else would he say?)

Hayes also noted that Boras was seeking five years at $15 million a pop for Millwood. That's too much for a 14-game winner who couldn't deliver the goods in the season's second half. The Phils can offer him arbitration by Sunday, but Millwood then would have until December 19 to decide whether to accept it. Wade apparently was worried that backup policies such as Milton might be unavailable by then should Millwood turn the Phillies down.

The dilemma for the Phillies is that if they don't offer Millwood arbitration and he signs elsewhere, they'll lose out on a draft pick from the team with whom he signs; if they do offer it, they're looking at an $11 million price tag for next season, which would greatly limit their flexibility in shoring up the bullpen and bench.

Neither Silva nor Punto was likely to have any kind of big-time impact on the 2004 Phillies. Silva has never developed into much more than a hard thrower, and Punto brings a slick glove, good speed, and no bat to a utility infielder's role. So I'm okay with taking a flyer on Milton. A more proven starter would have been a great addition, though. Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, and Brett Myers now must really step it up, and as the DN's Bill Conlin observed perceptively last week, the Phils' big bats must be more consistent this year if the team is going to contend.

I'm not the only one who feels the deal doesn't have the jaw-dropping impact of Phillies acquisitions of the last few years. David Pinto of Baseball Musings writes, "I'd rather have Millwood, but Milton's okay. His main weakness is giving up a lot of HR. It would be nice if you could blame that on the HHH Dome, but he's given up more HR in fewer innings on the road during his time in Minnesota." At the Philling Station, Eric Charlesworth observes, "Milton missed most of last season after having knee surgery but has had solid peripherals throughout his career. Hence he is a perennial fantasy pick for me -- and one who tends to disappoint." Foolishly continuing to hope for a Millwood signing, adding, "I love Milton as a No. 5 though. Love him."

For what it's worth, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis played the trade as a salary dump that will enable the Twins to negotiate better with closer Eddie Guardado and outfielder Shannon Stewart.

Monday, December 01, 2003

Coming Soon. . . .

When the youngest member of the Shallow Center household takes ill, the missus and I go into lockdown. We take half-days at work, remain indoors, alternate comforting the little one, and feel lucky if we can find 15 minutes to choke down a couple of slices of cold pizza.

What we don't do is write about such things as Curt Schilling, the Phillies' search for more pitching, the rampaging Eagles, the continuing struggle of The West Wing to recover its mojo, and other important subjects.

Good health has returned to the household, however, so Shallow Center should be up and commenting again before too long. Thanks for your patience, and stay tuned.

Thursday, November 27, 2003

I'm thankful I have the skills and inclination to hold a job whose duties I like.

I'm thankful for my daughter, who daily brings me a joy I never thought possible -- the kind of joy that moistens my eyes nearly as often as it pulls my face into a smile.

I'm thankful for my wife, who pushes me to be a better person while also fully appreciating me for who I am, and who is a shining example to our daughter of compassion, humor, dedication, and sweetness.

I'm thankful my parents are still alive, and in good health, and generous with their kitchen and their time.

I'm thankful for my brothers, who have been the staunchest, most loyal of friends as well as the toughest, most ball-busting of critics -- what great brothers should be, in other words.

I'm thankful for my two sisters-in-law, who have brought joy to the lives of my wife and my brother, respectively; have given my daughter a pair of wonderful cousins to love; and have shown me what I missed by not growing up with sisters.

Monday, November 24, 2003

Bailing Brave

Jim Salisbury used his On Baseball column in yesterday's Inquirer to explore the resignation of Atlanta Braves president Stan Kasten, which he speculated "might have been a sign that he didn't like the direction that the Braves were headed." Time Warner is much more concerned about the balance sheet than Ted Turner ever was, noted Salisbury, adding:

Kasten, [John] Schuerholz and [Bobby] Cox have set high standards for the Braves. Maybe Kasten left because he felt that it would be impossible to uphold those standards under Time Warner. Many people in baseball believe this to be true. The Braves are changing, and Kasten didn't like what they are about to become.

Salisbury then offered thumbnail analyses of the N.L. East teams. Atlanta and Florida are expected to slash payroll and shed talent, the Expos are in way too tenuous a situation to take seriously, and the Mets are a disaster. He continued:

The only team in the NL East that appears to be in an optimum position to win is the Phillies.

They have a new ballpark. They have new revenue streams that have allowed them to bring in top talent (Jim Thome, Billy Wagner). They have a solid lineup that will only get better if Pat Burrell returns to form. They have three starters -- Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla and Brett Myers -- whom they can win with. They finally have a game-over closer in Wagner.

All that's missing is that pitcher to fit in at -- or near -- the top of the rotation.

Implicitly urging the Phillies to aim higher than the middle-of-the-rotation kind of guy whom Ed Wade has hinted the team might pursue, Salisbury pegged Curt Schilling, Kevin Millwood, Bartolo Colon, Javier Vazquez, and Livan Hernandez as desirable targets. (The Schilling saga took an interesting, and lousy (for the Phils), twist today; see related post.) "The Phillies have to end up with someone, and that someone has to be a formidable talent," Salisbury wrote, "because the NL East is ripe for the taking and this team is one move away from being in the best position to take it."

ESPN reported today that the Red Sox, Brewers, and Diamondbacks are in discussions regarding a three-way deal that would send Curt Schilling to Boston. This, of course, is bad news for the Phillies. The Inquirer's Jim Salisbury wrote yesterday that Schilling has said he wouldn't pitch for the Sox, but quickly added that "he is one to change his mind, so it wouldn't be surprising if the Red Sox made a call to Arizona if (when) Terry Francona is named manager. Francona and Schilling are close."

If the Boston talks falter and the Phils are still without a pitcher after Thanksgiving, Salisbury noted, keep an eye on December 7:

That's the date the Phils would have to offer Millwood salary arbitration. If the Phils offer Millwood arbitration, they will have to be ready to pay him possibly as much as $12 million or more if he accepts. If the Phils offer Millwood arbitration, that would close the door on Schilling, at least until Millwood rejects arbitration, and there's no guarantee that will happen. Last year, [Greg] Maddux, who like Millwood is represented by Scott Boras, accepted the Braves' offer of arbitration and signed a one-year contract.

I remain underwhelmed by the prospect of Millwood as a No. 1 guy, earning No. 1 scratch. Should Schilling still be available as December 7 draws closer, the D'backs, ever more desperate, "may have no choice but to take the Phillies' offer of second-tier players and prospects," wrote Salisbury. I'd support the acquisition of either Colon or Vazquez, but fear the price would be too high, so I still see Schilling as the best option.

But how eager do you think No. 38 would be to take a stab at halting the Red Sox' World Series futility? He may claim to want only Philadelphia, but Curt Schilling takes seriously such things as baseball history and tradition, and you can bet his considerable ego would relish the thought of being Boston's savior.

Friday, November 21, 2003

'The Birth of the Death Business'

President Kennedy was killed 40 years ago tomorrow, and if the wailings of the baby boomers who still dominate newsrooms are any indication, we still haven't recovered, four decades and eight presidential administrations later.

Philadelphia Weekly editor Tim Whitaker, for example, filed a painfully overwritten column that begins with a quote from Lou Reed's "The Day John Kennedy Died" and, I swear to God, ends with this paragraph:

Watching, it all looks as it did 40 years ago, when Matt was at the door with his basketball. But it doesn't feel the same. It can't. It won't ever.

Ugh. The rest of Whitaker's piece is no more relevant. Check out any paper or news Web site across the country and you'll surely see similar thoughts this weekend. Take, for instance, the three pieces on today's New York Times op-ed page alone.

For an even more tiresome angle, read Beth Gillin's story in today's Inquirer that draws the jaw-dropping conclusion that "for more than half of the U.S. population, not yet born on Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy's death is an event unclouded by sentiment." Oh. My. God. You mean today's college students don't see as the touchstone of their lives something that happened 20 years before they were even in existence? Are you as shocked -- shocked! -- as I am?

Somebody in the Inky's newsroom should have spiked that story idea the second it escaped from some clueless, 50-year-old editor's lips.

On the other hand, Wednesday's paper had an insightful, clear-eyed commentary piece from Karen Heller arguing that JFK's assassination marked "the birth of the death business, a profligate fascination with the loss of celebrated Americans whose lives ended early." Heller cites the aftermaths of the premature losses of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix, and could have extended her thesis from the 1960s and '70s to the present day, when the passing of Princess Diana elicited a numbing amount of coverage.

Adding that "the man's legacy will never completely rest in peace," Heller perceptively writes:

For much of the baby boom and anyone younger, Kennedy has always been a martyr, a vessel. He's been known only in death. And this has helped fuel the prurient interest in his killing. Many of us, myself included, learned of his assassination before we understood he'd been president.

With that single bullet, or perhaps several, began a national pastime of celebrity necrophilia, an obsession with turning the dead into myth and embracing the myth more than the sometimes prosaic aspects of an actual life.

Fourteen years after ending his brilliant comic strip "Bloom County" and eight years after retiring its ambitious but overreaching follow-up, "Outland," Berke Breathed will return to the comics pages this Sunday with a weekly strip called "Opus." The star, of course, is the penguin himself, the central character in each of Breathed's two previous strips.

Breathed's political viewpoint often earned "Bloom County" comparisons to "Doonesbury," but the truth is that Garry Trudeau's strip is much more overtly political -- or, perhaps, satirical -- than "Bloom County" ever was. In lobbing grenades at the targets of the '80s, whether Reaganomics or Tipper Gore's record-labeling crusade, Breathed seemed to be aiming less for the "Good zinger!" response and more for "Hey, that's funny!"

Indeed, in an interesting and wide-ranging e-mail interview with Salon, Breathed was quick to emphasize comedy over parody. Asked whether "a strip [can] be socially relevant without resorting to pop-culture references," he replied:

Ya know, just reading those words "socially relevant" made me physically wince just now. Our job is to make people smile. If my cartoons stray into -- I'm sorry, I can't type them again . . . those words you used above -- it's an accidental byproduct in the effort to make ME smile.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Roster Moves and Garage Sales

The Phillies caught up on some housekeeping yesterday, naming first baseman Ryan Howard and right-handed pitchers Keith Bucktrot, Elizardo Ramirez, and Alfredo Simon to their 40-man roster. The roster now stands at 37 players, explains the Inquirer's Todd Zolecki, leaving "the Phillies space to add a starter, a set-up man, and a back-up catcher this off-season." The rest of the story is largely speculation and recap.

Elsewhere in the Inky, sports business reporter Larry Eichel notes that the Phillies' chop-shop stripping of the Vet is having mixed results. Around 26,000 seats were sold, but the team can't seem to find takers for elevators, escalators, metal railings, Phanavision, and the Liberty Bell replica that sat high atop centerfield. Let's hope the fire sale picks up -- Ed Wade needs some extra scratch to land a No. 1 starter.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Wing Dings

When Aaron Sorkin was late with a West Wing script once too often and was finally jettisoned from the once-sterling NBC drama, many of us anticipated Life After Aaron with some trepidation.

Sure, the show had grown increasingly preposterous -- by the end of last season, one week in West Wing world featured the unlikely combination of the vice president's resignation to head off a sex scandal and the kidnapping of the president's daughter -- but there's no one on television who can write with Sorkin's blend of brains, passion, and wit. Before the NBC hype machine forced more and more outlandish storylines, The West Wing was a deserved commercial and critical success, serving up interesting, well written stories and featuring likable, committed characters. (An even better example of Sorkin's talent was the criminally underwatched Sports Night, which ABC failed to position adequately and dumped after just two seasons.)

So when NBC finally cut the cord with Sorkin, John Wells was left with a tough act to follow. In many ways Sorkin wasThe West Wing. His vision and his voice were so connected to the show that it was hard to imagine his successors, well, succeeding.

Up until last week, these fears seemed to be well founded. Wells & Co. were forced to find their footing while also cleaning up Sorkin's mess. Rather than starting with a clean slate, they had to rescue Zoey Bartlett, dismiss Speaker of the House-turned acting President Glenn Walken, return President Bartlett to the Oval Office, and find a new vice president. Burdened with those tasks, the writers this year started slowly, turning out a half-dozen underwhelming episodes that somehow felt off.

Until last week. With all of last season's mayhem more or less wrapped up, The West Wing finally resembled the compelling drama it used to be. With an extraordinarily effective Matthew Perry reprising his guest-starring role as a Republican White House counsel, last week's episode, "Separation of Powers," turned its back on the recent improbable sensationalism and returned to its roots with substantive storylines on the failing health of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the budget negotiations between the White House and congressional Republicans.

The episodes final scene, culminating in President Bartlett's ordering of a federal government shutdown, was the program's most powerful in more than a season. It was shot with a handheld camera, and often at table level, giving it a welcome, striking verisimilitude, and featured a considerable amount of silence. One of the most notable hallmarks of the Sorkin era, of course, was the nonstop cacophony of crackling dialogue, ringing phones, and other noise. With Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme gone, Wing now includes quieter moments and longer reaction shots. These have taken some getting used to; indeed, they're not always appropriate for a show set in what must be the most frantic office setting on the planet, but at times, such as last week, they can be spot-on.

The Daily News's very solid Ellen Gray beat me to the punch on this today, calling "Separation of Powers" "probably the best show so far of the post-Aaron Sorkin era" and singling out Perry, deservedly, for high praise. Gray even suggests that Perry join the cast on a more permanent basis next season, when Friends bows out.

I hope that "Separation of Powers" marked the show hitting its stride and wasn't just a blip in a tumble to mediocrity. Wells's ER was at one time television's best drama, but after every episode produced "an event . . . you can't . . . miss," as the NBC promo guy would say week after week (after week after week), it began to feel empty and loud. At its best, The West Wing, for all of its noise, has been the exact opposite. Here's hoping Wells realizes that.

I love Christmas. Love the presents, giving and getting. Love the spirit. Love the all-too-short focus on peace and goodwill. Love the sights and smells. Love the tree. Love seeing the youngest member of the Shallow Center household play in wrapping.

Hate it. Hate it heinously. Hate it the way the Grinch hated Christmas before his heart expanded in his chest.

The earlier one hears Christmas music, the more diluted the season becomes. It's only a matter of time before someone here picks up on the cues of the Charlotte, N.C., station that went all-Yule on Halloween. As the season gets more stretched out, its specialness decreases. What's the point of having Christmas if it's going to run from Labor Day through New Year's?

So, please, station managers, please, please, please hold off on playing the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," one of the best of the modern Yule tunes, until after Thanksgiving.

And then play it as often as you can. Christmas only comes once a year, after all, and we need that Christmas magic to bring this tale to a very happy ending.

Todd Zolecki reported in yesterday's Inquirer that the Phillies are close to resigning reliever Dan Plesac for another year. Plesac is 41, yes, but is the quintessential situational lefty, the guy to call on to get Barry Bonds with a man on in the seventh of a tight game. That is, he doesn't pitch much -- just 33 and 1/3 innings last season -- so his age shouldn't be much of a factor. It's a sound move on the Phillies' part. Plesac was effective last year, is very comfortable with pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, and, whaddya know, wants to be here!

Shallow Center's South Jersey Correspondent checks in with a response to my most recent post concerning the Curt Schilling situation:

"The Phillies are finally at a stage where the focus on winning is now, not at some point in the future, and Schilling would make that more possible, not less."

While I would love -- love! -- to see the Phillies win now, my point all along has been that they need to be in a position to win now and in the future, and that they can better accomplish this with Myers than with Schilling. I think I could live with them acquiring Schilling and not having to give up any of their Big Three prospects, though I think I would rather see them lose without him than win with him. There is such a thing as pride, after all.

To which the only answer can be to quote from the scene in Pulp Fiction in which mobster Marsellus Wallace is ordering crooked boxer Butch Coolidge to throw his upcoming fight. The exchange is salty, but bears repeating:

"The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps."

Translation: I'm bone-tired of fighting the good fight and losing for a good cause. I want to win for a change. The Phillies are in a position to win now and in the future, and a move for Schilling would only help that. I'm not talking about Ed Wade giving away every blue-chip prospect to rent Schilling for four months -- this would be a two-to-three-year commitment. I still think Wade should consider packaging a couple of spare parts -- losing Jimmy Rollins would certainly not impact the lineup much -- and a lesser prospect to make it happen.

Monday, November 17, 2003

Catching Up with the Weekend Coverage

The Inquirer got its money's worth out of sending Jim Salisbury to the general managers' meetings. Salisbury reported Friday that the Phillies brass met with the agent of free-agent pitcher Bartolo Colon. The story appears to be more smoke than fire, as the price he'll command seems higher than what the Phils have indicated they'll pay. Indeed, Wade was pretty cool, saying simply, "It behooves us to have discussions about guys like Colon. It was a good meeting and we agreed to talk again down the road." Salisbury's interesting take is that the meeting could be a subtle message to the Diamondbacks and Curt Schilling that the team will not wait forever for a deal to develop on that front.

Both the Inquirer and Daily News reported the same day that sod -- you know, real grass -- has been laid at Citizens Bank Park. Each paper's coverage includes the obligatory photo of the Phillie Phanatic watering the grass.

And yesterday Salisbury wrote of catching up with Pat Burrell in Tempe, where the 2003 bust is training at Arizona State. Burrell opted out of a week of hitting in Florida in favor of maintaining his usual off-season routine, a tactic I think is sound. He's chalking up his awful year to simply one-of-those-things, and says he's confident that starting with a clean slate will make everything right again. That may sound blasé, but Burrell seems the kind of guy who can pull it off. He'd better.

It also must be noted that Burrell said all the right things to Salisbury, blaming no one but himself. He also spoke about Phillies fans' unexpectedly positive reactions to his helpless, season-long flailing:

Burrell understood Bowa's frustration. He also understood that the fans were frustrated with him. Still, he remains amazed about -- and appreciative of -- the support he received from the fans when they could have pounded his eardrums with boos.

"I'm sure there were times it was hard to watch," Burrell said. "But these fans were great to me. Ninety percent of the time, I'd be out to lunch and someone would say something nice to me.

"The people have been so good to me. I'd struggle for a week, then get a big hit, and the response would be unbelievable. I think, deep down, they knew how hard I was trying. I was probably trying too hard."

There's also a great nugget in Salisbury's story about Burrell's efforts to discover what went wrong:

Burrell actually started the search for his old self during the second half of the season, in a couple of phone conversations with retired slugger Mark McGwire.

Like Burrell, McGwire had early success in his career. But in his fifth full big-league season, in 1991, he could do little right, hitting .201 with 22 homers and 75 RBIs.

During his first conversation with McGwire, Burrell barely got a word out of his mouth before McGwire began to preach.

"This is going to be the best year of your life," Burrell says McGwire told him. "You're not going to believe all you're going to learn about yourself. You'll be better because of this."

In 1992, McGwire bounced back and hit .268 with 42 homers and 104 RBIs. Burrell believes that he can do the same sort of thing. He believes that he can be a survivor, just like McGwire.

I completely agree with the (other) South Jersey Correspondent regarding Brett Myers. In no way, shape, or form should the Phillies give up a 23 year old with the potential for a spectacular career ahead of him in order to get a 37 year old, who spent a good bit of time on the DL this past season, and who is a disruptive force in the clubhouse.

Tell Jason the Yankees can have him. In fact, it would be interesting to see Schilling and Steinbrenner go at it!

I'm not at all comfortable with the thought of parting with Myers. As many have noted, he could well be the next Curt Schilling. If Ed Wade could find a way to swing something while holding on to Myers, Cole Hamels, and Gavin Floyd, I'd be ecstatic. That said, he has to at least consider it. The Phillies are finally at a stage where the focus on winning is now, not at some point in the future, and Schilling would make that more possible, not less.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Shallow Center's South Jersey Correspondent couldn't believe what he was reading:

You are absolutely insane!! If the rumors are true on what the D'backs want, the Phillies cannot do this deal. We need to be positioned to win this year and contend in coming years. If it's true that Arizona wants three major league-ready players in return for Schilling -- one of whom must be Myers -- then that limits the Phillies to the possibility of winning only this year. How can you advocate trading Myers? He's going to be a really good pitcher for a long time, while Schilling will be here for maybe two years, with no guarantee that we would win anything.

Also, isn't it convenient that now that we're spending money, Schilling wants to come back here? I think that speaks quite clearly to his character. If he has so much loyalty to Philadelphia -- as he claims -- why must there be a contract extension? If he really wants to pitch here, he should go to Arizona's GM and tell him -- Garagiola Jr, yes? -- that he must do whatever it takes to get this deal done. He must then tell Ed Wade that he'll do whatever he has to do on his contract to make it work for the Phillies, not for himself. Then, and only then, I will believe him when he says he wants to pitch and win here.

I should have been clearer in my original post that I'd really rather not see the Phillies trade Brett Myers. I really, really like him -- he has the stuff and the makeup to be a very good pitcher for a very long time. I recall that when he was drafted a few years back, quite a few people were comparing him to one Curt Schilling. So, yes, I'd like to see the Phils hold onto him. My thoughts from earlier were meant simply to advocate that Ed Wade explore all avenues in an attempt to lure Schilling to the Phillies.

SCSJC then fired off a follow-up e-mail whose subject was "I forgot the most important point of all!": "The 'man' is nothing if not on thing: a clubhouse cancer. Just ask Scott Rolen, not that I'd listen to anything he had to say." Not having been in the Phillies clubhouse when Schilling was here -- a remark that can also be made of SCSJC -- I cannot venture an estimation of his cancerous qualities. Schilling has always looked out for Schilling, true; but he has also demonstrated an uncommon knack for rising to the occasion, a trait sorely missing in many of the home nine in 2003.

Meanwhile, my pal Jason, a die-hard Yankees fan, checked in with the following:

Completely agree with you about Schilling. Philly has to make this happen -- it makes sense all around. And from a Yankee standpoint, it really makes me mad that Soriano and (especially) Johnson are so close to being traded for yet another aging player. Yeah, Schilling is terrific, but the team needs to get younger, not to mention retain some players who make less than $6 million a year. So I'm rooting for you guys to get Schilling as well.

Jason, I think, raises a good point. The Phillies, a nice blend of veterans and young guys, are on the cusp of the playoffs, a player or two short, while the aging Yankees seem ready to blow it up and start over. It seems to me that a guy like Schilling would be a lot more valuable to the Phils than the Yanks.

Curt Schilling, who's never met a microphone he didn't like, tells the Inquirer's Jim Salisbury today that he'd like to finish his career in Philadelphia. The only problem, of course, is that the former Phillie is still under contract to the Arizona Diamondbacks, to whom the Phils traded him a few years back and whom he helped to win a World Series. The Diamondbacks now are looking to dump salary, and Schilling says he'd accept a trade to either Philadelphia or the Yankees.

For the Phillies, though, there would be significant fiscal and organizational obstacles to acquiring Schilling. He's owed a fair amount of scratch, and the Phils, thanks to the last couple of seasons of spending, have less of that lying around than they used to. Additionally, the D'backs are said to be demanding a lot in return for a trade. (Today's New York Times reports that Arizona is demanding Alphonso Soriano and Nick Johnson for Schilling and Junior Spivey, and that the Yankees are balking at that price.)

In Salisbury's interview, Schilling, as usual, throws everything on the table. But love him or hate him, it's hard to argue with much of what he says:

"If I had to bet, I think the only thing I'd bet on is I probably won't be in a Diamondbacks uniform when the season starts," he said. "I've said it before: If it's impossible for me to finish my career with them, I'd like to do it in Philadelphia, because that's home, and it's comfortable. That team has a chance to win the World Series. There's a new park. I love the fans there. The chance to pitch in that environment would be cool." . . .

Schilling understands the Phillies' situation.

"If the Phillies don't trade for me, it's not because they are cheap," he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The commitment they've made to winning, getting [Jim] Thome, now Wagner, it's certainly a change." . . .

Schilling did this interview while sitting at the kitchen table in his home late Tuesday night. The kids were in bed. His wife quietly watched television. As the pitcher spoke, he alternately scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad and reached down to pet his rottweiler, Patton. (George Steinbrenner will love that name.)

Schilling said he knew his words -- and his desire to return to Philadelphia -- would sound odd because it wasn't that long ago that his frequent questioning of ownership's desire to win led to his trade to Arizona in the first place.

"Except for one year, they sucked while I was there," Schilling said. "There were years we had 14 big-league players on the team. That stuff doesn't fly in that town.

"I didn't beg to get out of Philadelphia. That's taken on a life of its own. It got uncomfortable at the end, and something had to be done. But the strongest statement I made was to Ed Wade when I told him it was OK to deal me.

"I complained about the people who were inactive. I wanted people, top to bottom, to be as committed to winning as I was. Every fifth day, I take the ball and try to kick someone's butt. I expected my teammates to have that attitude, and I expected the front office to provide a team capable of doing that.

"There were some things I shouldn't have said publicly. There were some arguments I shouldn't have had. But the fact of the matter is, for a long time, there wasn't a commitment to winning there."

There is now. And Schilling dreams of being part of it, even if in reality it is just that -- a dream.

"Things come full circle," Schilling said. "Some people off the field might not want me, but not the people on the field.

"The Phillies are doing whatever it takes to get to the World Series. But I still feel they're one piece away. I could be wrong, because I'm certainly biased. I believe the team that gets me is thinking, 'This is the guy we want on the mound winning Game 7 of the World Series for us.'

"We'll see what happens."

Ed Wade absolutely has to find a way to make this happen. Schilling can be an enormous pain in the ass, but his dedication, his approach to the game, and his talent are undeniable. He'd be an improvement over Kevin Millwood, and he would take a more active role than Millwood in tutoring guys like Brett Myers and Randy Wolf. Can you imagine Schilling tanking it the way Millwood did in that late-season loss to Florida?

Three-and-a-half years ago, the Phillies did their own salary dump of Schilling, picking up Travis Lee, Vicente Padilla, Nelson Figueroa, and Omar Daal in return from the Diamondbacks. Only Padilla is still with the team. Lee is one of baseball's biggest wasters of pure talent, Figueroa pitched for his fourth team in four years last season, and Daal sports an 11-year winning percentage of .466 with a 4.29 ERA. It's time for Arizona to return the favor.

Wade already has parted with one prize pitching prospect this off-season in Taylor Buchholz, who was dealt to the Astros in exchange for Billy Wagner. I understand his reluctance to part with Myers, whom the D'backs are said to like; Myers has the look of a stud. But there aren't many Schillings floating around, and the Phillies are no longer rebuilding -- their time to win is now, not in five years. And Schilling would greatly increase their chances.

Plus, watching him and Larry Bowa try to coexist would be absolutely priceless.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Maybe McNabb is Underrated

Do rehab centers allow their patients to watch TV? I sure hope so, because repentant junkie Rush Limbaugh sure needed to see the end of the Eagles-Packers game Monday night.

Uninformed pundits, such as Limbaugh, who choose to measure Donovan McNabb's performance only by his statistics believe that McNabb has been overrated by the media. (Limbaugh, of course, then took this at-least-defensible statement into Bizarro World by saying the overestimation of McNabb exists because the NFL and the national media want a black quarterback to succeed.) What they forget is that he'll do whatever it takes for his team to win -- and that most of the time, it does.

McNabb's dissection of the Green Bay defense in the game-winning drive Monday was a thing of beauty. Playing on a soaked field, gripping a greased pig of a ball, and leading a hardly-formidable offense, he drove the Eagles down the field with surgical precision and hit Todd Pinkston on a short out route for the touchdown that won the game.

The physical play of the drive was impressive enough. But actually watching him carry himself -- and here's where TV has it all over live attendance when it comes to football -- should be enough to convince anyone that McNabb is the real deal. While Al Michaels and John Madden were frothing at the mouth in their insistence that he manage the clock better, McNabb was cool and unhurried. You could almost see the game slow down to meet him -- he rushed nothing, displayed absolutely no signs of panic, and in the end left Brett Favre and the Packer offense with less than 30 seconds to make their own last-ditch effort.

McNabb's performance in that final drive, which has been criminally underreported (only today's Daily Newshas mentioned it over the last two days, and it's buried), was Elway-like. It was reflective of true football leadership. It exposes the weakness of quarterback ratings and other stats. And it's why we Eagles fans hope to hell that Andy Reid finds him some real receivers someday -- imagine the possibilities.

Both Philadelphia dailies have stories today on the baseball general managers' meetings in Phoenix this week, and once again the Inquirer trumps the Daily News. Each paper talks with Phillies GM Ed Wade, who says he'll be waiting and seeing how the free agent market shakes out before moving to acquire more pitching help. But while the DN's Marcus Hayes files a ho-hum story from here, the Inky's Jim Salisbury is in Arizona and includes much more news in his piece. Salisbury reports that Wade talked with Tom Gordon's agent and also may be interested in the Indians' Danys Baez. The story also has comments from Scott Boras, Kevin Millwood's agent, who continues to insist that Millwood hasn't ruled out returning to the Phils, especially now that the team has a real closer.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Dude, Where's My Seat?

Last year, jacked by the Thome/Bell/Millwood acquisitions, Shallow Center's South Jersey Correspondent and I ponied up for a pair of ducats on the Phils' 16-game season ticket plan. Despite the team's failure to make the playoffs, we still had a great time ringing out the Vet and anticipating the arrival of Citizens Bank Park.

Well, both papers report today (Inquirer; Daily News) that we'll know by next week where our new seats are. SCSJC and I dutifully filled out our questionnaire over the summer, calculated where we could afford to sit, and crossed our fingers that it'll be someplace good. Soon we'll know.

The team began running radio and TV ads yesterday for CBP season tickets. The slogan is "Real intimate, real fun, real grass," and the commercial I saw featured a host of Phillies bursting in on business meetings, walking down an office hallway, and popping up in other business situations, all to slap the same poor, clueless guy in the ass, ballplayers-style. One of the Phils is, yes, Jim Thome, who surely must have had better things to do than film a commercial, yet again put the team -- the organization, really -- ahead of himself, like the class act that he is. For the thousandth time, thank you, Cleveland, for this guy.

Paul Hagen of the Daily News catches up with new Astro Brandon Duckworth, who admits in a phone interview from his Utah home that he was "taken aback" by his trade from the Phillies so soon after the season ended. Duckworth's claim of disbelief is a bit hard to take; after all, as Hagen notes, Duckworth pitched himself out of the rotation in each of the last two seasons.

Still, he takes the high road, saying the Phils gave him his first shot. And while making the usual noises about being excited to go somewhere with a fresh chance, Duckworth offers a very revealing answer to Hagen's question about whether there's "a strong enough support system in place for a talented young pitcher going through a crisis of confidence": " 'That's a tough one to answer,' he said. 'There was some support there. It was the first time I'd really struggled and there was some support there. I do know that a lot of people were trying to help me.' "

At age 27, Duckworth shouldn't need that much handholding. But his reply to Hagen's query offers another piece of evidence to support an argument of mine: that Larry Bowa is an effective handler of his pitchers.

Monday, November 10, 2003

Crank Yanking

The Baseball Crank checks in with a late analysis of the Billy Wagner trade, saying he "has to help [the Phillies'] bullpen." However, the Crank cautions, "the victory will be Pyhrric if they can't re-sign Millwood." Well, not really. As noted here before, I'm fine with letting Millwood walk; the kind of scratch he's seeking can be better spent elsewhere.

Millwood was exactly the stud we hoped he'd be in the season's first half, even mixing in a no-no to boot, but fell apart in the latter half of the year. Scott Boras, his agent, will shop him hard, and probably will land him somewhere, at a huge cost -- that's what Boras does, after all. Millwood's new team then will cross their fingers and pray that he's a legit No. 1. Millwood never was that kind of guy with the Braves, and he wasn't one with the Phils. He's a good pitcher, but until he shows me a Maddux/Schilling/Clemens level of domination, I don't think he should be paid as such.